MURIEL'S Wedding starlet Toni Collette is set to star in a film inspired by the murder of Sydney nurse Anita
Cobby.

Titled The Boys -and based on the controversial Australian play of the same name -the low-budget feature film
is scheduled to be shot in and around Sydney in July.

Cosi actor David Wenham has been cast in the role of Brett, a relentless sociopath who rapes and murders a
young woman on the day he is released from jail.

Collette will play his girlfriend.

Lynette Curran -currently appearing in Chekhov's The Seagull -is his mother, and John Polson, perhaps best
known as Russell Crowe's gay boyfriend in The Sum Of Us, has landed the role of middle brother Glenn.

The film got its green light in the same week Blackrock, a gritty look at the underbelly of teenage surf culture
with strong parallels to the 1989 murder of Newcastle teenager Leigh Leigh, opened in cinemas across Australia.

"That's pure coincidence -we've been working on this film for five years," Wenham said yesterday.

Wenham, who struck a chord with audiences as the pyromaniac in the clinically insane Australian comedy Cosi,
also played Brett in the 1991 Griffin Theatre Company production at the Stables Theatre, in Kings Cross.

Veteran Australian writer Stephen Sewell has adapted Gordon Graham's award-winning play for the big screen
and Robert Conolly will produce.

Conolly describes The Boys as a tough suburban family drama.

"The play was inspired by a series of brutal crimes against women, one of which was the Anita Cobby murder,"
he said.

"But in no way is it the biographical story of Anita Cobby -the character of Anita Cobby isn't even in the
play."

Wenham added: "Crimes like this are happening constantly, like in Perth at the moment where those women are
disappearing at what is becoming a regular rate.

"Violent crimes against women -it's still a taboo subject in society today, and we're addressing it, I suppose."

Boys will be boysAuthor: Jim SchembriDate: 10/05/1998Publication: The Sunday Age

As far as dream film projects go, David Wenham knows he's come about asclose as he's likely to get with
The Boys.

Since appearing in the stage play by Gordon Graham at Sydney's GriffinTheatre in 1991, Wenham has nurtured
the project from pub conversation tofinished film, on which he was associate producer. Whether the film getsan audience
or leads on to other things is beside the point, he says.

"I'm very self-critical and there's not too many pieces of work that I canhonestly say, 'Yeah, I'm proud
of that'. I am with this film," he says."It's a fulfilling feeling to know that we did create this piece of filmfrom
virtually nothing."

The Boys follows the release from prison of Brett Sprague (played byWenham) as he tries to fit back into
his malfunctioning family, whichincludes two layabout brothers, a pregnant young woman and along-suffering mother
(Lynette Curran). As the day progresses, there arepointers to a brutal and random act of violence perpetrated by Brett
andhis brothers.

On film, The Boys is an unremittingly gritty tale that carries on thetorch of Australian social realist
cinema, something that has beenfluttering in the recent wake of musical comedy fancy that has filledtheatres and won
overseas notice (Muriel's Wedding, Strictly Ballroom, TheAdventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert).

The notion of making a screen version of The Boys had been marinating foryears during long lunch and drinking
sessions at the Green Park Hotel inDarlinghurst between Wenham and the play's producer, Robert Connolly. Soonafter
the play's brief run, Connolly went to film school, Wenham went onto get more film and TV experience and the idea eventually
found purchase.

The play was adapted by noted playwright Stephen Sewell with producer JohnMaynard (Vigil, The Navigator,
Sweetie) teaming up with Connolly, Wenham,cinematographer Tristan Milani and first-time feature director RowanWoods.

As associate producer, Wenham says his job was to make sure "that none ofour visions were ruined anywhere
along the way". The Boys is Wenham'sbaby, his artistically uncompromised little baby.

"We had 100 per cent control, so of what's up there on the screen there isnot one ounce of artistic compromise
at all from any of the teaminvolved," Wenham says. "We could have had the film done years ago if we'dgone with an
established director, an established director of photography,an established editor. We didn't. We all had experience working
with eachother before. It's a wonderful way to work because it was like a shorthandprocess. We knew how we operated."

It took Wenham an inordinate amount of time to help turn The Boys into afilm. He was motivated by one key
factor.

"The thing that drove me, the thing that kept me going was just theaudience reaction from that one production
in Sydney," he says. "I've donequite a bit of stage work (Cosi, Hamlet, The Tempest), but never beforehave I been
involved in a stage production where a large majority of theaudience would actually stay behind after the play to talk
about thepiece.

Amazing, maybe, but limited. The Boys was not exactly the type of projectthat screamed to be filmed. Nor
was it the type of proposal that hadinvestors kneecapping each other just to be first in line with theirmoney.

The Boys ran in Sydney for about six weeks. It did not make it toMelbourne. The film's $2.2 million budget
came from a "jigsaw" of sources,including SBS Independent, the NSW Film and Television Office, the AFC andvarious
off-shore contributors.

Any film based on a stage play has the inevitable hurdle of not lookinglike a photographed stage play. The
Boys avoids that by adopting an almostvoyeuristic visual style.

"When we were thinking about how we'd shoot it, we decided very early onthat we would shoot it on location,"
Wenham says. "We searched for a housethat would allow the best possible perspectives for the camera. The houseis a
character within the film, and Rowan was always conscious of makingthe house alive."

When talking about the house in the film, Wenham is on firm ground. Askhim to articulate what it is about
the dark nature of the story thatcaptivated him so, and he becomes a tad tongue-tied.

So a suggestion. While not seeking to excuse what Brett and his brotherseventually do in the film, The Boys
does present the complex background ofmounting frustrations that results in an act of violence that is as randomas
it is inevitable.

"You can write all that down and attribute it to me because it's quitecorrect," Wenham says.

But seriously ...

"We didn't want to explain. Within the film, we seek to understand whyevents like this occur," he says.

"The reasons are extremely complex, as is the protagonist, Brett. He's aman who has an enormous emotional
range and is passionate. He's a mancapable of wonderful love on one hand, and horrendous violence on theother hand,
and you never quite know when that's going to occur."

Whether producing The Boys helps his career is not the point, Wenhaminsists. "I never went into it with
the prime motivation of 'Ah gee, thiscould lead to whatever'. My motivation was that I was driven by the desireto
tell this story, to play this character."

Which is just as well. It's a fickle business, though you don't have totell Wenham that.

He has enjoyed solid success, winning an AFI award for best actor in 1997for his work in the mini-series
Simone de Beauvoir's Babies. He hadnotable roles in Cosi and Dark City. However, he also has a lead role inthe recent
film A Little Bit Of Soul, directed by Peter Duncan, who madethe multi-award winning comedy Children Of The Revolution.
Soul was not asuccess. It was, by any measure, a commercial and critical clunker. And ithurt.

"It obviously distressed Peter to the maximum," Wenham says. "Peter ownedthat film. I was surprised by the
vehemence of a lot of the criticism.Sure, it's not a great film, it's flawed, but it didn't deserve theabsolute bucketing
that it got in some quarters. I saw The Big Lebowski onthe weekend and I think it's a mess of a film, an absolute mess.
I haven'tread about that. If Peter Duncan was the Coen brothers, I wonder if thecriticism would have been the same."

He pauses again, as his fingers strangle the life out of a sugar sachet."I find it strange, I can't ...
you know, I'm ... phew ... look, if youbelieve the good that people write, you have to believe the bad as well, Iam
a believer in that philosophy."

Critics aren't the worst of it, he says. Wenham still considers himself anewcomer to TV and film, and some
of the characters on the landscape scarehim.

"I don't think there are too many downsides to the business. I suppose thebureaucracy of the film industry
is frustrating, the grey or black suitbrigade that pulls the purse strings. I think in a lot of situations thewrong
people are pulling those strings. They give you script advice like'you come back with a second draft with these amendments,
then you mightget a little bit more money from us'. You've got to be kidding.

"It's also frustrating how the words business and product are used asopposed to creation. You know, that
sounds a little bit wanky, but itshould be the culture of cinema as opposed to the culture of business."

It doesn't seem to be in Wenham's nature to carp for long. He has a niceplace in Rushcutters Bay, he's about
to appear in the ABC seriesSeachange, he's produced a film. He's doing fine.

"It's good, you know. Actors always complain. They complain when there'sno work, they complain when they're
too busy. Actors are a shocking lot.Maybe that's a collective noun for a group of actors. A shock of actors,as opposed
to a whinge of writers. Oh, I heard a beauty the other day fordirectors. A lack of directors!" He laughs.

AUSTRALIAN actor David Wenham, an established member of Melbourne's frenetic theatre scene, seems to have been
rediscovered through his meticulously chilling performance in new film The Boys.

Wenham originated the role of a jail inmate on the edge _ one that won him enormous acclaim initially in the
theatre.

He plays Brett Sprague, who was recently released from prison after serving a sentence for assault with a deadly
weapon and grievous bodily harm.

On his way home, bringing with him a coffee table he made behind bars, he returns with his younger brother Stevie
(Anthony Hayes) to the family suburban house where he grew up with a third brother, Glenn (John Polson). Also living in the
house is Sandra (Lynette Curran), mother of the three, and her current lover George (Pete Smith), a Maori who is contemptuously
referred to as Abo by the boys.

Brett is both charming and quite psychopathic and was imprisoned for an attack on the owner of a liquor store.

He's on parole and forbidden to return to the scene of his crime, yet, in true menacing style, that's precisely
what he does. It's clear that he's heading for major trouble and is likely to drag his brothers down with him.

A key character is Brett's girlfriend Michelle (Toni Collette), who has waited for him. She's greeted with a
mixture of suspicion, hatred and lust.

Brett's impotence provokes Michelle's furious accusation that he indulged in homosexual sex while he was in
prison, resulting in one of the film's major confrontations.

Brett is also angered by the fact that while he's been away, someone has stolen his stash from a padlocked locker
in his bedroom. He suspects various members of his family, and as he gets drunker and more stoned, his rage mounts.

It's often been said that both the stage and screen adaptations of this story, was loosely based on the Anita
Cobby killers. Not true, says Wenham.

"The play was written nine years ago at a workshop at a Playwrights' Conference in Canberra, then a year later
there was a workshop that I was involved with for the Griffin Theatre Company, then a year after that, we went into production.

"By the time we'd gone into production, it wasn't too far removed from that particular case, so people immediately
assumed that that's what the play was about.''

Since the success of the play, Wenham has always believed that there was a film waiting to emerge, and so has
stuck with this project through it's metamorphosis from stage to screen, right from the outset, to the point where he now
serves as the film's associate producer.

"That was always going to happen, because I was always convinced that it would make a great film, as long as
we added a certain cinematic depth to the material, which I believe we have,'' he says.

WENHAM DOES VENOM

It's often been said that both the stage and screen versions of The Boyswere loosely based on the infamous
Anita Cobby murder. Not true, DavidWenham tells PAUL FISCHER.

"The play was written nine years ago as a workshop at a Playwrights'Conference in Canberra, then a year
later there was a workshop that I wasinvolved with for the Griffin Theatre Company, then a year after that, wewent
into production. By the time we'd gone into production, it wasn't toofar removed from that particular case, so people
IMMEDIATELY assumed thatthat's what the play was about." Wenham adds that the play was written "inresponse to a series
of crimes that occurred all around Australia over along period of time. In fact it was more based on a family that lived
nextdoor to the playwright in the outer suburbs of Perth. So I guess it waseither fortunate or unfortunate that the
Cobby thing happened, and it'sfine, but when we did the stage production, it was soon after thatparticular crime,
and the media circus was huge, so they couldn't see pastthat."

"I've come across many people like Brett."

Ultimately, however, the role of the unnervingly venomous Brett was adefining moment in the life and career
of David Wenham, and a role thatimmediately brought some exciting new challenges for the young actor. "Icould see
that he was an extremely complex individual, and the danger withplaying something like this is to portray him as two-dimensional
Mr Evil,which I don't think is the case. The depths within the character are fargreater than just that, and the reasons
behind some of the events thatunfold in the story are extremely complicated. His emotional range isHUGE, possibly
greater than the average person, which I suppose is whatmakes him a fascinating individual.

"He is extremely charismatic, and capable, on the one hand of intenselove, and on the other hand, of the
most tremendous violence. So it's thebalance between the two extremes within the individual that makes himfascinating."
Wenham found it easy to identify with this character. "I'vecome across many people like Brett."

Since the success of the play, Wenham has always believed that there was afilm waiting to emerge, and stuck
with the project through it'smetamorphosis from stage to screen, to the point where he now serves asthe film's associate
producer. "That was always going to happen, because Iwas always convinced that it would make a great film, as long as
we addeda certain cinematic depth to the material, which I believe we have."

"The film was never about THE CRIME, but the events leading up to it."

The film explores various aspects of family behaviour, of the fragmentedfamily unit, torn asunder over the
years. In some ways, Wenham argues,Brett retains an idealised sense of family duty, which ultimately hasdarker consequences.
"I suppose that everything that he does is an attemptto bring this family together as a unit, and in an attempt to createorder,
he actually goes through a method of creating chaos." Though thefilm explores what it is that can lead to atrocious violence,
one of thestrengths of the film, is that the ultimate violent act perpetuated by thebrothers is never shown on screen,
nor was there ever a temptation to doso. "The film was never about THE CRIME, but the events leading up to it.It was
a search, on our part, for understanding. We don't come up with anysolutions."

Despite Wenham playing such a dark and chilling character, there's nodanger of the actor being typecast;
after he all, he recently played anerdy scientist in Peter Duncan's A Little Bit of Soul. Wenham is ridinghigh now,
first co-starring opposite Sigrid Thornton in the new ABC tvseries, Sea Change, which he describes "as an awful lot of
fun". Next it'soff to Hawaii, to work with Peter O'Toole in the new Paul Cox film.

MOLOKAI

DAVID WENHAM; 'In this job you can't plot a career'The Advertiser (Adelaide, Australia)June 22, 2002Stan
James

WHEN David Wenham began production on his first film, Molokai, in 1998, he had become one of the best-known
faces on Australian television, with the hit SeaChange.

If he'd been relying on Molokai to start building his film career, he'd have had a long wait.

Director Paul Cox's film, the story of remarkable Belgian priest Father Damien, who worked on the leper
colony on the Hawaiian island of Molokai, is only now on the local scene.

"It's a relief that it's finally got a release in Australia,'' Wenham says.

"It means Paul Cox and myself can go on with our daily life and not answer that question that pops up
every week or so: 'When's that film about the Belgian priest going to be released?' ''

The 36-year-old actor says it's ironic that a film about a man who dedicated his life to acts of altruism
and generosity was held up basically over money.

There are two versions of the film. "The Belgian producers tried to sack Paul three times through the production,''
Wenham says. "They succeeded in getting him off the film for post-production because they wanted a totally different
type of film - something sugar-coated and saccharin-sweet, which is not the way Paul approaches these projects.

"Then, with absolutely no experience, they cut the film themselves and released it. It was rather diabolical.

"When Paul succeeded in a landmark court case in Belgium to get the film back, he found they'd cut the negative
and there are some parts of the film that can never be retrieved.''

Wenham and Cox took the film back to Molokai 18 months ago and screened it:

"They are so proud of it and consider it their film, which it is. Their story, their history. It's very,
very satisfying.''

Wenham is satisfied with SeaChange, too, and the films that have moved his career into the stardom arena.

"SeaChange changed my career domestically,'' he says. It changed him into a sex symbol: "That's what television
does; it gives you a profile, an enormous profile. That was great. I loved being a part of it.''

The film that opened international doors for Wenham was The Boys. "I was one of its producers and it was
very critically successful in many countries,'' he says.

The big surprise was The Bank, with its blast at the ruthless activities in the banking system. "It was
at a time of enormous anti-bank sentiment,'' Wenham explains.

"We were quite fortuitous that it was released when there was such a feeling in the community.''

Wenham scored a role in the The Lord of the Rings blockbuster trilogy but won't know how large his role
is in The Twin Towers, until November when it's due out.

Like most actors, Wenham is philosophical about his future. "I'd like to spend half my time here and half
overseas,'' he says.

"But in this profession, you're at the whim of a phone call. You can't really plot a career in a way.
You just have to wait and see how it goes.''

* Molokai is at Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas.

HIS STORY SO FAR

David Wenham

Born: September 21, 1965, in Marrickville, New South Wales.

Career: First appearance on TV in G.P. (1988). First film Molokai (1999). Received Australian Film Institute
best actor nominations for The Boys (1999), Better than Sex (2000) and The Bank (2001). Won AFI best TV actor for Simone De
Beauvoir's Babies (1997) and nominated for best actor for SeaChange (1998).

Personal: Unmarried, five sisters, one brother. Adam Cullen's portrait of him won the 2000 Archibald Prize.
In March, he signed up as an Ancient Forest Guardian, joining Sam Neill and Toni Collette.

Burying Diver DanSydney Morning HeraldJune 11 2002

Far from wallowing in TV glory, David Wenham has instead embraced a film career as unusual as it is challenging,
writes Sue Williams.

You have to hand it to the boy. After 14 plays, 15 movies and headlining in a television drama that gripped
the nation, David Wenham could well have made the decision to sit back and wait for the glamour roles to pour in.

Instead, he headed out to one of the most godforsaken places on Earth, a remote island to which leprosy sufferers
were traditionally banished to die, learned to speak with a Flemish accent said to be among the toughest to master and then
played a whiskery Belgian priest.

Glamorous? Never. Sexy? Hardly. Fun? Only if your idea of a good time is sitting on a patch of land, traversable
only by foot, in the middle of shark-infested seas, among a community made up of elderly lepers, their descendants and their
nurses, who view every newcomer with suspicion.

But Wenham, 36, not only loved the experience; he'd head back there in a shot.

"It was the most incredible opportunity," he said, cheerfully. "It was a very emotional experience, an amazing
time."

The result, the Paul Cox film Molokai: The Story Of Father Damien, is nothing less than a miracle of modern
movie-making.

Its true-life tale was guarded jealously by its tellers, it was set on the most difficult terrain imaginable,
and it came complete with a huge bust-up, halfway through, between Cox and the Belgian producers who each had dramatically
different visions of the end product.

And right in the middle sat Wenham, an actor who, at times, must have wondered what the hell he'd gotten into.
Not that he'd ever say so, of course he's far too polite. And then there was the chance to play Father Damien, someone revered
in the goodness stakes alongside Mother Teresa and Gandhi, for volunteering to go over to the leper colony on the Hawaiian
island of Kalaupapa in 1872 and embracing its desperate inhabitants, at the same time fighting for medical supplies, shelter
and their rights. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Hopefully.

"Yes, it was an amazing experience," Wenham said. "We shot exactly where the story was set on the island,
right among the community to whom this all happened over 100 years ago. Quite a few people who appeared in the film actually
still live there.

"At first, the community was suspicious of us and didn't want to be involved. Eventually, they trusted Paul
Cox and I enough, and offered to put themselves on screen. So a lot of the patients you see in the film still suffer from
the disease. Incredible."

Wenham read up copiously on Father Damien and on leprosy now called Hansen's disease before he went, to make
sure he'd be as ready as possible. No-one would expect any less of the star of SeaChange, The Boys, The Bank and Better Than
Sex than that he would rapidly carve out a name for himself worldwide.

"The difference with him as an actor," said Robert Connolly, who produced The Boys and directed The Bank,
"is that he's not only intuitive like a lot of actors, but he combines his craft with a rigorous intellect. He's not dissimilar
to Geoffrey Rush or Cate Blanchett in that.

"He's also very much into going for the interesting role rather than the starring role. His career has been
built on fantastic character roles, and he's constantly defying people's expectations. I'd never be surprised by anything
he does, whether it's Father Damien or one of the leads in Lord Of The Rings."

Indeed, Wenham is likely to hit global celebrity paydirt with the release of the next two Rings sequels, where
he plays Faramir, the brother of the character played by Sean Bean. That's likely to make Hollywood sit up and take notice
in the same way that Britain has over the past couple of years.

"He'll definitely become even more well known after that," Connolly said. "It's a huge role. He'll have such
an interesting career, and one that's long term, never flavour of the month. He's earning himself a very solid reputation."

As far as his standing goes in the UK, Wenham's movie Dust, in which he plays an Oklahoma cowboy in Macedonia
alongside Joseph Fiennes, is screening there at the moment to critical acclaim, and he's also just finished a film directed
by Gillies (Hideous Kinky) MacKinnon. From here on in, it might be difficult to keep him in Australia.

Wenham, however, is having nothing of such talk. Although he's constantly receiving scripts these days, he
still chose to return to Melbourne recently to perform in the play True West. He has little doubt that, unless the roles he's
offered capture his imagination totally, he'll turn them down every time in favour of the smaller gig back home.

"I have representation in the US and one day I'll go over there and spent a little bit of time in LA," he
said, during a break between stage performances.

"But I'm very realistic in my ambition. As I get older, the ambition diminishes. The less ambitious I become,
the more interesting work I find comes my way. I've always found that the harder you try and seek something out, the further
it gets away from you."

While he's always happiest when he's working, Wenham, the youngest of seven children who was disruptive at
his inner-west-Sydney school until he discovered acting, said he was also pretty content sitting around in coffee shops reading
newspapers, or going for walks near his home in Sydney's eastern suburbs with long-time girlfriend, actor and yoga teacher
Kate Agnew.

Balance is what it's all about, and that's a quality he seems to possess in spades.

"Oh well, I'm lucky that I really love what I do," he said. "I've never worked out what my alternative career
could be, so it's just as well this is going OK. I just consider myself extremely lucky to do something I love, and being
able to travel while I do it as well."

Travel to places like Kalaupapa is perhaps not necessarily what he had in mind at the start of his career,
but he was still in d**n fine company. Along with Cox (Man of Flowers, Innocence) was a cast that included Derek Jacobi, Peter
O'Toole, Sam Neill, Leo McKern and Kris Kristoffersen.

In addition, there was the emotional seesaw of being surrounded by people ravaged by a disease that in most
places today can be treated with a drug that costs about $20 and the nurses who came over to help them.

"That wasn't an easy experience, but it made the project an extremely rewarding one," he said.

"It was always important to highlight what these people went through, which was the basis of Paul's [Cox]
problem with the producers. They wanted a more saccharine version of events; he was adamant he wanted realism."

That realism, for Cox, extended to the desire to cast a Belgian actor in the lead role, but he simply couldn't
find anyone who fitted the bill. In the end, Wenham's name was suggested, ironically enough, by an agent in London. Cox found
himself flying back to Australia to audition a fellow countryman he'd never met.

That decision has paid off handsomely. At a preview of the film for the Belgian press, there were congratulations
all around that their country had managed to produce such a fine lead actor they had no doubt such a perfect Flemish accent
came from a bona fide Belgian.

As for the future, Wenham doesn't like to look too far forward. Others, however, have far less compunction.
Connolly said he, Wenham and The Boys director Rowan Woods had made a pact when they started shooting that movie: between
them, they'd make a trilogy, taking turns to direct.

Next time, it's Wenham's turn. "We said we'd help each other out, directing, producing and acting," Connolly
said. "I know he's got aspirations there. And I've no doubt he'll be just as successful in that area, as he is as an actor."

No doubt. Molokai: The Story Of Father Damien will be released on June 20.

Act of faith

June 14 2002

Paul Cox struggled to get his inspirational film Molokai: The Story ofFather Damien to the screen, writes
Jacqui Taffel.

In 1873, a Belgian priest called Father Damien volunteered for service ona Hawaiian island where leprosy
sufferers, or anyone remotely suspected ofhaving leprosy, were exiled. With its sheer cliffs and treacherous waters,there
was no escape from Molokai. Those sent were expected to die there,and conditions were atrocious. Father Damien was supposed
to stay only fora few months but spent 16 years working to improve the lot of the localcommunity. He eventually died
of leprosy, one of the few to contract thedisease while on the island.

In 1998, Australian film director Paul Cox arrived on Molokai to shoot afilm about Father Damien. The funding
for Molokai: The Story of FatherDamien had been organised by a Belgian producer and the cast wasimpressive: Peter
O'Toole, Kris Kristofferson, Sam Neill and Derek Jacobiplus Australian talent including Chris Haywood, Aden Young and
KateCeberano.

All was not well, however. Over the course of filming, Cox was fired andrehired by the film's producers.
Then two versions of the film were edited- the director's cut and the producer's version - and Cox took legalaction.
He was eventually asked to re-edit the film, and in September1999, the director's cut premiered at the Toronto Film Festival.

Continuing tension about which edit would be distributed internationallymeant Australian audiences have
had to wait until now to see the film.Father Damien is portrayed, complete with convincing Belgian accent, byDavid
Wenham, who first caught the public eye on TV as SeaChange's DiverDan and on film in The Boys, Better Than Sex and The
Bank.On location for Molokai, he says, it was clear there were problems: "Youcouldn't escape the fact that there was
tension between differentparties."

But his feelings about the dispute are not all negative. "In a bizarre wayI think it helped the film,
because it did feel as though we were forevertrying to fight against the powers that be, which is what, basically, thecharacter
that I played did. He was forever fighting against the hierarchyof the church."

Wenham spent about four months shooting on Molokai, a remote andspectacular place.

"Filming there you can sense the history," he says. "It's so beautiful butyou get off the little plane at
the settlement and the first thing you'reconfronted with is masses of graves."

Wenham did his own research into the disease when he was offered the roleand corrected his widely shared
misconceptions. Leprosy has been treatablesince the 1940s and the risk of catching it from visiting the island wasminuscule.

Though now free to leave, many of Molokai's disfigured "patients" (theterm they prefer to "lepers") have
chosen to stay on the island that hasbecome home. The local community granted Cox permission to shoot at theirsettlement
of Kalaupapa but had no plans to participate.

"They were very suspicious of a film coming in to make a story of theirhero," says Wenham.

During their time on Molokai, Cox and Wenham lived at Kalaupapa, drinkingand chatting with its residents
at Elaine's Place, a shed that serves asthe settlement's bar. Local suspicion was replaced by acceptance, whichultimately
lead to involvement. About 50 patients feature in the film andit was partly as a result of their protests that Cox was
reinstated asdirector after he was sacked.

Compared with the average film shoot, conditions were tough, with littleof the usual infrastructure. On
top of producer problems, it was aphysically demanding project.

"Some of the sets were an hour away from where Paul and I were staying inthe settlement," recalls Wenham.
"More often than not the person who wassupposed to take me to the set would either forget or not turn up. Aftershooting
14-hour days, I'd walk back in the dark along dirt tracks. Butthat was a small thing in the multitude of things we had
to overcome."And, of course, it was small potatoes compared with the real FatherDamien's lot. Wenham doesn't think
he could have emulated his character inreal life.

"You'd love to think you could do something like that but I realise mylimits," he says.

In 1995, Pope John Paul II granted Father Damien the second step beforesainthood - he is now Blessed Damien.
During the making of Molokai, Wenhamand Cox discussed the fact that the Belgian priest needed one moremiracle, proved
after his death, to become a fully fledged saint."Paul always said once the film gets released in Australia, that'll beit,"
says Wenham. "That will be his final miracle."

Now it's up to the Pope.

THE PETROL IN HIS ENGINEAustralian Catholics Magazine, Autumn 1999

By Michael McGirr

David Wenham has played roles as different as Diver Dan and Damien ofMolokai. Michael McGirr spoke to him
about the convictions which areimportant to him.

Late last year, David Wenham was in New Zealand promoting the release ofThe Boys, a film in which he plays
the role of a prisoner on parole. Hewas surprised that he was introduced on radio and elsewhere as one ofAustralia’s
sexiest men. He has been saddled with the status of a sexsymbol since the runaway success of the ABC series SeaChange
in which heplays the likeable, laconic Diver Dan. But there is a lot more to DavidWenham than meets the eye.

Wenham is also the star of a new feature film, soon to be released inAustralia, called Molokai. He leads
a cast which includes Peter O’Toole,Leo McKern, Derek Jacobi, Sam Neil, Chris Heywood and Aidan Young.

The film tells the story of Fr Damien of Molokai. In 1866, 140 peoplesuffering leprosy were banished to
the inhospitable and inaccessibleisland of Molokai, part of the Hawaiian group, for no greater crime thanbeing sick.
They were given farming implements and left to fend forthemselves. The authorities believed that isolation would stop
the spreadof the disease. They were wrong.

As more and more people with the disease were dumped on Molokai, Fr Damiende Veuster, a Belgian priest,
volunteered to go to live and work withthem. He knew that once he set foot on Molokai, he would have to remainsegregated
from the rest of the world for the remainder of his life. Heset about improving both the morale and the living conditions
of theoutcasts. Inevitably, he caught the disease himself and died on Molokai inApril 1889, aged 49.

David Wenham says of his character, Fr Damien, that he was ‘a very simpleman who achieved extraordinary
things’ and that ‘he was a gentle man witha ferocious temper’. Wenham spent four months on Molokai shooting
thefilm. He was struck by the severe geography of the location, which has thetallest sea-cliffs in the world and fierce
winds. But the greatestinfluence on his performance was the friendships he developed among thefifty or so patients
who still live in the leprosarium at Kalaupapa, onthe island. Among them was an elderly man called Kenso. Kenso had knownDamien’s
friend and successor, Joseph Dutton.

‘These patients had decided to stay there because they have lived theirwhole lives there’, explains
Wenham.

Wenham worked a gruelling schedule to make the film.

‘Technically it was difficult. I was an Australian actor in Hawaii to playthe Belgian national hero
who spoke with a Flemish accent and sang theMass in Latin. On an emotional level, it was draining. It was a role forwhich
I really had to lay myself on the line. I had to make myselfvulnerable to a huge extent.’

The only day off in the week for the actors was Sunday. Wenham made apoint of getting up early each Sunday
to attend a Mass which wascelebrated at 7am by a visiting priest at Kalaupapa.

‘All the patients would go to the church. Their singing was justfantastic. Kenso was known as the
“little bishop” because he had served onthe altar for years. He was in his 80s. Sadly, he died while we werethere.

‘It was a wonderful experience on a Sunday to share the Mass with thosepeople. It was a great communal
event. It really was a sharing. The signof peace was exchanged by people without hands and fingers. So we allturned
around and looked at each other and waved. I think if every churchhad a bit of that, they would be jam-packed. What happens
in church hasjust got to be real and true and honest.’

David went to school at Christian Brothers’ High School at Lewisham inSydney.

‘I spent a lot of time on the balcony outside a lot of classrooms. And Ihad sore hands on many occasions’,
he laughs.

Some of David’s fondest memories of school involve the style of religiouseducation he received.

‘My favourite RE classes were with one brother, Br Loth, who was also achaplain at Long Bay jail.
He got us to write letters to the prisoners.The prisoners wrote back to us.’

Ironically, in earlier days, Br John Loth also taught the Australianactor, Michael Caton. In the mid-eighties,
he was teaching Years 7, 8, 9,10 and 11 during the week and did prison chaplaincy on the weekend.

‘My approach was to try and make faith part of the boys’ life and beingrather than just intellectual
ideas’, Br John explains. ‘I tried to makeit personal and foster a personal relationship with God. I think
the boyswere very responsive.’

David would agree. His parents are actively involved in the parish at StBrigid’s, Marrickville, where
they help run a senior citizens group.

‘When I got the part of Damien, the first thing I did was to ring them upand ask if they’d heard
of him. They knew all about him and spoke sowarmly of him. Faith has an enormous influence on them. In fact, I wouldsay
that religion is probably the most important thing in their lives.’

David is currently best known for his role as Diver Dan in SeaChange. Hedescribes Pearl Bay, the imaginary
town in which the series is set, as a‘very spiritual place’. He explains this is partly because the show has
ananti-materialistic theme. The main storyline is about a family which hasgiven up an affluent city lifestyle for
a more gentle life on the coast.He also believes that the spirituality of the show comes from the factthat the characters
in it have a genuine ‘core.’ He gives as an example,Kev, a straightforward, even simple, bloke, and his son
Trev, who oftenhave a brief exchange at the end of an episode. On one such occasion, Kevasks Trev if dreams come true.
Kev thinks for a minute and then says thathe’s sitting on the beach with his son, throwing stones into the water.Yes,
he reckons dreams do come true.

Why is there no priest in Pearl Bay?

‘There definitely is a priest in Pearl Bay’, says David. ‘He just happensnot to be present
on the screen.’

David was deeply affected by the spirituality of Damien of Molokai. ‘Hisfaith was the petrol in his
engine’, he says, emphatically.

‘Paul Cox, the director, told me that there were very few shows aroundthat actually inspire people.
We tend to revere the Schwarzenegger andChuck Norris characters. But here was a man who was a true hero. He wasaltruistic.
He put himself aside totally. Totally. He was 33 when he cameto Molokai, the same age I am now. I’d love to be like
him.’

Does his own faith make a difference to David Wenham?

‘When I go to church I need to experience reassurance, inspiration andenlightenment. It’s great
if that happens.

‘Belief in God makes a huge difference to how you see yourself and theworld. It changes things totally
when you know there is a life hereafter.’